Thoughts on Philly loss & FleetCenter fans

[HCMurdoch@aol.com]

Celt's fans used to have a reputation of being some of the most knowledgeable 
in the league, but I have to say that lately, including tonight, some of them 
(hopefully a small minority) sure weren't acting like it.  Walker was having 
a bad game, probably due to no gas left after 3 games in 3 days - but he 
wasn't playing the selfish, dumb game his critics often charge him with.  
Same with the rest of the team.  They clearly were putting out effort and 
weren't making a lot of bad decisions, they just were a step slow and didn't 
have the hops.

So, while it was disappointing to see the Celts down by 20 or more points, 
booing 'Toine whenever he took a shot was really out to lunch.  It was one 
thing to boo when he was a one-man bad-shot-selection team, but he hasn't 
been doing that for the last 5 or 6 games, and the boos aren't called for.  
Plus, he's been putting out more effort on the court than almost anyone else 
on either team, plus playing more minutes - so it's not a real reach for the 
fans to understand why he might just have a bad game under the circumstances.

Some good notes - Pierce played a very good game and put a lot of energy into 
going to the boards in traffic.  His game seems to be back.  He and Barros 
were among the few to have a good shooting game.  Battie and a couple of 
others also put out a lot of effort on defense.

Finally, I'm not nearly as upset by the recent couple of losses as the ones a 
couple of weeks ago.  Walker has improved his game tremendously in terms of 
where his head is at, and the rest of the team has gotten a lot smarter in 
their game too.  It's like the light is finally coming on.  If they ignore 
the ignorant boo birds and keep playing this new style - eventually the wins 
will come, and in greater quantities.  Ironic that they're finally playing 
better and smarter, after all the articles about how the team is giving up 
etc.  Maybe the FleetCenter fans have read Peter May et al. too many times.  
Hang in there Celts!

Hank M.